ADHD is one of the most common mental health problems in children.
A deficiency in vitamin D while pregnant is linked to childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Mothers with the vitamin deficiency during the early- to mid- period of their pregnancy saw a higher risk of ADHD in their children.
It is the first study at the population level to find this link between vitamin D and ADHD.
It is not known exactly how the vitamin is linked to ADHD, however it is important in early brain development.
The Finnish study included 1,067 children with ADHD born between 1998 and 1999.
They were compared with the same number of matched control without the diagnosis.
Dr Minna Sucksdorff, the study’s first author, said:
“Alongside genotype, prenatal factors such as vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, can influence the development of ADHD.”
Many health agencies around the world suggest that mothers take vitamin D during pregnancy.
The usual recommended dose is 10mcg, although some do not take it and others are not aware.
Professor Andre Sourander, study co-author, said:
“This research offers strong evidence that a low level of vitamin D during pregnancy is related to attention deficiency in offspring.
As ADHD is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, the research results have a great significance for public health.”
Another Danish study including 1,233 children has also found a link between vitamin D and ADHD (Mossin et al., 2016).
Professor Niels Bilenberg, who led that study, said:
“…those mothers who had taken vitamin D, and had a vitamin D level (25OHD) in their umbilical blood over 25 nmol/L, had children with lower ADHD scores.
This was after we had corrected for other factors that could explain the link, such as the mother’s age, smoking, alcohol, obesity, education, number of children, psychiatric disease in the parents, child’s sex, age and seasonal variation.”
Related
The study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Sucksdorff et al., 2020).
